DX Commander Vs End Fed Half Wave
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- Опубликовано: 11 июн 2023
- Which Antenna Would You Chose If You Could Only Have One Antenna? The DX Commander, Or An End Fed Half Wave? Hunting POTA From Inside A Park: Are You Only A Hunter? A Cool Stand For The Nano VNA H4
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I will go for the EFHW every time - soooooooooooo much easier and quicker to setup, lighter, no nasty radials to lay out and packs much smaller for portable ops
Know what I love most about your videos? Your cat walking around in the background... :) (sorry, I'm a cat guy...)
He's my producer.
@@hamradiotube you mean Purrducer 😂
Thanks for the feedback on the POTA logging. I was not logging as a hunter when I was in a park but I will make sure I upload my log going forward. Thanks Mike
I personally like the MyAntennas EFHW and random wire transformers. They are expensive though but built soooo well.
I hv one. Very nice unit.
Have u looked into a Hy end fed brand?
@@WILLIAMPERRELLI I have the hyenfed 80-10m 49:1 and it's excellent, got the 1 Kw version with compensation capacitor for 80m which increased resonance from around 3500 Khz to 3700 Khz without needing to shorten the antenna which will mess up the other bands.
I've no problem making contacts all over the world. I have it in a sloping inv L config. It was just easier for me to do it this way because trees are never where you want them to be but the first half is up around 70 feet and the other half slops down from 70 feet to 3 feet, I have the UNUN there around 3 feet off the ground and it's grounded there.
I like my MyAntennas 40-10 end fed. Two of my friends have the 80-10 versions and we all like them. Well built. They work as advertised.
Dave K8WPE
If only they were cheaper. I am outside the U.S. and it's $150 shipped for their cheapest EFHW!
Looking for a high efficiency DIY version for 80-10m.
Anyone with a beautiful black kitty like the one I saw here has to be a good guy :) I had one for almost 20 years, sadly he's gone now, but was one of the best cats I've owned. Scratch that, I don't own cats, they own me ;)
Oh yeah, the ham content is good also!
One more great video packed with information, many thanks for your effort and time taken to put those videos for all to watch.
Your videos are fair and honest (a rare find those days).
Mike, thank you for being informative, helpful, entertaining and just AWESOME! Thank you for the work that you do to help out the hobby! I am studying for my license and look forward to making contact with you one day soon
I have a Par End-fedz antenna and it works great for me. Most of my contacts have been on 20 and 40 meters the last few months. I have worked most of the US states except the far west coast and I am in Rhode Island. Very happy with mine.
I have an MFJ 80-10 HP EFHW. It would not resonate anywhere. So I opened it up. Re-wound the 49:1 unun on their original core. (It did not look right when I opened it. Replaced the high voltage cap with one I had. Low and behold it was resonant on several bands but upper bands were way to high. So I added a couple turns to the coil that was in the wire. And BOOM! I contacted MFJ about this and got no response. figures.
A good example of why I have decided to personally take a No-MFJ Product Position in my Shack. If the MSRP of any product is too good to be true then it’s likely not worth getting and something I stay away from. For a few dollars more you can find a better built device from another manufacturer.
I did find a better one, MINE@@Aswaguespack
100% agree with your position on uploading POTA logs! It's a widespread frustration that particularly irks me. I upload my logs as soon as I get home, for the most part. On a couple late-nighters, I uploaded the next day. They ought to have an award for prompt uploaders at 3 levels Gold, within 6 hours of the last contact. Silver, within 24 hours, and Bronze at 48 hours. That'd get the logs loaded up!
It's annoying that people these days expect logs to be uploaded almost instantly. It's ok for ops who have a shedload of free time, but for some of us we're lucky if we get an hour here and there to operate, and then it's back to real life. My wwff logs get uploaded when I find the time to get on the PC. At the moment I've got some to upload from months ago. Fortunately wwff ops are generally patient.
Tempted to start just doing cards through the bureau!
Recently purchased to DX Commander Signature 9, the guyless version you slip over a tube in the ground. I now really enjoy jumping from band to band and not having to turn down the power to tune or listing to relay chatter. Good answer to a tough question.
I have had the Par End Feds up for a year now and it has been an outstanding EFHW. I do use a tuner for portions of 80.
I made a logging app, part of it was to convert all my WWFF past activations to POTA and I uploaded everything. I imagine a lot of people might have been surprised to get free awards :D It was only 21 parks, but 750 contacts so, merry xmas :D
I own 2 par end fedz, 1 is a 40-10 QRP (used portable) and the other is an 80m high power (used at home) both work as expected and have been totally reliable over a couple of years.
Aye, I have a ParEndFedz same except the normal power rating. It's been outside permanently in Ontario weather -30C to +35C, winter storms etc. and it's been flawless.
Sma 2 sma adapter will extend the sma and protect the VNA sma pins from wear.
Thanks, Mike. It's always great to see the cat.
I like the new rug. It really ties the room together.
Thank you. You're the first person to notice. Everyones so focused on the cat toys!
I have the 40-10 quad and 80-10 kilowatt Par End Fed. At my previous house I had room for both antennas. I moved to a garden home where it was tight for the DX Commander. Because of the proximity to the house to the DX Commander did not work very well. The EFHWs could be hoisted above the house and garden and worked fine. The80-10 kilowatt end was only 5'off the ground and did not do as well as the 40-10. DX Commander is good but it has to be in the clear. I am moving this month to Spring, TX and will have half an acre there and 70' pine trees. I think the EFHW will enjoy that.
Walt at TennTennas is awesome! Extremely helpful, friendly and makes an awesome product. I have the 100 watt version for QRP with my IC-705. Super easy to tune and get working.
I have that same Par. It has worked well for me thus far.
I had an issue with an EFHW from a reputable US made antenna company and what they figured out was that their torrid manufacturer had changed the formula without them knowing. They did a quick redesign and switched manufacturers and formulas the new one works well.
How can a toroid manufacturer just "change formula" of a toroid? They are manufactured to a particular specification. It's not like they can just device to make a type 43 ferrite toroid from some type 73 material. More likely the item sold to you was faulty or the toroid was from a cheap manufacturer, and the unun manufacturer / supplier wanted to pass the buck.
Thanks Mike for your answer on the antenna question. As far as space I have 5 acres behind my shack for antennas. I really like the DX commander so I think it will get first pick. After looking at the Tenn Tenna EFHW I think I may be able to to get both. Really appreciate you brother! NB5Z
Ahh, both is always the better answer! Glad to help.
I have the hyenfed 80-10m 49:1 and it's excellent, got the 1 Kw version with compensation capacitor for 80m which increased resonance from around 3500 Khz to 3700 Khz without needing to shorten the antenna which will mess up the other bands.
I've no problem making contacts all over the world. I have it in a sloping inv L config. It was just easier for me to do it this way because trees are never where you want them to be but the first half is up around 70 feet and the other half slops down from 70 feet to 3 feet, I have the UNUN there around 3 feet off the ground and it's grounded there.
I believe it was Steve Ellington ? here on youtube the first to discover how the Capacitor could effect 80m.
My pick is the Hyendfed antennas. I have 2 and they are wonderful. No tuner needed. The build is exceptional. No one comes close. I would never use anything else.
I just recently built a 40-10m EFHW...after seeing a bunch of videos by Mike, figured I needed to get on the bandwagon. I have not been disappointed.
I have a DX commander and love it for DX. I live in an HOA and it is great. The big problem with multiband verticals is they a low noise floor and close contacts are difficult due to takeoff angle. So for 20M and 40M I have dipoles which have much higher noise floors and have them closer to the ground, 25ft at the center, which makes them great semi NVIS antennas for POTA hunting. EFHW also have low noise floors and if you can't hear them, you can't make contact.
🤣
I have several endfed 1/2 wave DIY and purchased, The DX Commander is bay far the best performer. sometimes the endfed in a flat top works better for close contacts. endfed in vertical setup still does not perform as well as my DX Commander.
I've just started doing HF - total rookie on this. I have a Yaesu FT 710 and it's hooked to a Vibroplex endfedz 135' long wire. I live basically across the street from our local airport so I guess I'll never see any huge towers. But, this Vibroplex is working quite well for me, as far as I can tell. In about two months I've made bunches of contacts stateside and even Japan, Italy, Australia, and some guy in Indonesia that I was unable to understand his callsign. I've thought about this DX Commander Signature 9 verticle but having to put out radials is going to present a problem. My wife LOVES our lawn (come summer) and wonders how we can mow the lawn with it full of wires.. I may just haveto live with my Vibroplex - 🙃 I really does the job for me.
Always upload your log. There's no excuse not to. I've also done several "activations" where I just hunted other activators. Never called CQ, but made at least 10 P2P contacts. Log got uploaded. 73!
Dear Mike, very much appreciated.
That's really cool for the NanoVNA
Great show (as always). I recently purchased the Nelson EFHW, 65ft 10m-40m. The antenna build is A+++. I added my own winder for easy deployment/storage. This will be my 2023 Field Day Antenna. 🎙️W1FYG
I have the four band par enzfed and it is nearly 1:1 on 20 meters and 1:1.5 which are the two bands I use most. Had it up for for a few years. Works well.
Mike disappointed you didn't start your antenna answer with depends lol.
I have both too. here is my 2 cents when extended ops DX handsdown (home station, Field day, etc) EFHW for portable ops. Main reason the DX will never become out of tune with extended transmit especially data ie FT8.
Great video as usual and hope your staying cool down here.
Thanks for the Satan video. Kept getting distracted and had to replay to catch what you were saying. He was especially funny when he was watching you from behind talk about POTA logging. It is always nice to get Satan's opinion on things. He has a real good perspective 😆
I read this to Satan and he didn't seem to be interested in your mere human opinion. I, on the other hand agree with you.
@@hamradiotube I appreciate your efforts and I totally understand.
If I owned a home and done land, my dream set-up would be a DX Commander for the DX and Ground Wave contacts and a EFHW antenna for the NVIS and Short Skip contact's. I'd also have a big fat Diplexer in my shack to control it all. Biggest thing about the EFHW is height above ground to get that low take off angle. This combo solves that problem for me anyway
I have the Par EFHW 10-40M version(EF-Quad). It tunes under 2:1 on all 4 Bands w/o a tuner. I bought it for Portable Op. What I don't like about it, is it is bulky & has stubs for the different Bands which adds to the Bulk. I purchased the TennTennas EFHW based based on Mikes reviews & am very happy with this antenna, where I have 3 of them now. Very well built, compact & tunes well on 10,15,20 & 40M w/o a Tuner. Add the Strain relief, which Mike has a video out on How-To. TennTennas are Great, and the price is right! You will have to put your own wire on them, trim & tune, but that is part of the Ham experimentation fun!
Ive used efhw. Currently have a DX commander classic for tx, and have a horizontal delta loop for rx. I get GREAT sugnal reports with my dx commander, and im surrounded by power lines to.
I enjoyed that buddy,first time viewer here from the UK,have a Subscribe.
Awesome, thank you!
I like your T-shirt, such a happy kitty
Mike, have you ever gotten a response from PAR about your antenna? I have several that have served well for decades. Like you said, everyone makes a lemon sometime, it’s how they rectify the problem that’s a difference. Keep up the great videos , look forward to them. AB4O
I have found that SOTA activators that are on a summit in a park wont up load to POTA. This also affects the park activator who is working from a park looking for P2P’s.
Hi there, I've been using PAR end fed (the old one, small transformer) for 10 years now. I have monobander, dual bander, 4 banders never ever failed. I own even 3 UHF and 1 VHF halo from PAR as well. Never a single problem. Great antennas.
Thanks for sharing!
I had the Par Endfedz Quad band EFHW which has 3 stubs of wire that come off the main wire you tune to 10, 15, and 20. Cool idea, but it wouldn’t tune up correctly. It came short, and even after making longer splices it would never tune right.
Their little tiny portable EFHWs are decent for portable though.
EFHW for me.
DX commander doesn’t do NVIS.
EFHW can do NVIS, and as you go higher in frequency, you get more of a DX antenna.
$100 can get you an EFHW that does 80-10m.
Easier to take along with you, and easier to set up.
No radials needed.
Also the horizontal polarization also makes for a quieter noise floor.
I have both a DXC and a Nelson EFHW. Set up properly they both work well. The DXC needs the radials and the EFHW of any manufacturer needs a long space and a high elevation. The end fed can be used very effectively for NVIS type communication since verticals aren't as good for that. The exception being the 80 meter element on the DXC which is an inverted L with a long horizontal section. And yes I would buy a high powered EF transformer/balun.
What would you say is the best 10-80 EFHW setup, as far as Up-over, or angled in the middle, or what ? Love you videos, 73
I have Nelson's 8010 & 4010 and love em. A few days after hanging the 4010 I worked Austrailia from Maine (10,800+) miles! Planning on hanging the 8010 for FD to operate with my Club this month.
Same here! I got VK land only a few days after hanging it up too!
@@hamradiotube Sweet! Hope I get to work you for FD. I'll be operating as N1ME
Mike thank you for all the great videos. My question is can more the one station activate a POTA park? I will be at a Corps of Engineer rec area K-7124 during Field Day and there will be more than one station I believe set up there.
Yes, I've worked many dual op activator stations.
I have to agree with you, the Nelson antennas in eBay is fantastic. I have one and the guy provides an amazing customer service. I had the same issue you said sending 100 watts in digital and he send me a better matching unit right away, problem solved. Now I’m considering the dxcommander, kind of pricey for what it is but I wonder if I will get any advantage over my Wolf River coil
My first HF antenna was a Par Endfedz 80M and I never had any problems. Hurricane Ida destroyed it and as soon as I could I put another one up. High end 65' low end 5' with the first 10' on a 90 deg. dogleg. Very flexible with regard to configuration. Tim KG6G
TennTennas is the bomb! He shipped it promptly and I can’t wait to get this thing out into the field.
If only I had my bnc-to-uhf adapter! 😢
I use the SOTA beams Band Springer for my HF ‘work’, as I only work QRP/portable due to restrictions at home and a desire for a happy marriage 😊. Works really well for me! Oh, and your shack panther is beautiful, do they try to get on the air like mine? She even has a ‘callsign’ in our club of M9CAT!
I mostly (90% time) do my activating as a hunter. It's challenging but not hard. I'm the guy always in the pileup calling "Park to Park!"
And yes, I always upload my log no matter what. I have a few logs uploaded actually that only have 1 contact in it. I work from parks in and around DC and a lot of ham's need DC as a contact so I make sure to upload the log always.
I usually only have time for quickie activations and i find I can usually get my 10 contacts easily as a hunter on 2 or 3 bands. I like hunting from a park becasue I give and receive park2park credit as a hunter in a park, AND I get the activation after only 10 contacts...it's like a golden two-fer! I love my TennTennas!! My go-to set up right now is CHA Hybrid-mini in an end fed sloper config. Secondary is my 20m and 40m hamsticks on the hood of my jeep. I've worked 3 continents from my park with a hamstick on a magmount from my Jeep. Another good mailbag Monday Mike. Ps...GET THE HAMRS LOGGING APP. IT ROCKS! Cheers and 73!
Have you tried and assessed the Palomar Engineers EFHW units?
I have the My Antennas 80-10 endfed and the DX Commander Exibition. Best performer is the DX Commander.
Par end Fedz or DX Commander for home station? Neither- go with an Off Center Fed Dipole. I got one from Palomar Engineers and it's awesome. Not very pricey either as commercial antennas go. I used to use an EFHW for my home station and the OCFD blows it away. It's up out the way and actually very stealthy- it's hard to notice if you're not looking for it.
Better yet, BUILD the thing rather than buy a finished antenna. A 1/2 wave dipole cut for 80/75 or 40 and fed with open wire will work wonderfully on 80-10 or 40-10. I realize it takes a bit of room and not everyone has that luxury. If you build your wire antennas, you enable the experience of trying a number of different designs until you happen on 1 that fits your situation. It costs about $20 to build a dipole. Less if the end insulators are pieces of PVC pipe with holes drilled in them. Enjoy the adventure. There are still a couple sets of wire cutters, 1-1/4" sockets, etc hanging in trees at my parents house from me throwing a weighted support line over a branch. Worked my first 150 countries on a dipole I built.
Off center fed dipoles aren't resonant on as many bands though.
@@hamradiotube I have their 40-10 OCFD, my 7300 easily tunes 40, 20, 17, 15, 10, and bonus 6 m. Just had a bunch of fun on 6 m this past weekend. 30 and 12 m- not happening, but couldn't get those with my EFHW either even with a choke at the feed point.
And what about hyendfed? It seem very good quality and efficient for an end fed (not half wavelength).
hello ,where can i find the nano vna stands/holder?
I have the nelson Antenna with high power. No issues at all..
I have a DX Commander and two Par End Fedz. Mine are fine. SWR is not flat but it is 1.5 or better. EFHW deployment is easier and no traps on the ground to trip you.
I watch the DX Commander videos. He always sound like he is in a room with only me, and except for the fact that he is behind that "little window" on my laptop, I could go get him a cup of tea. Having said that, I feel the same way about you, but we might go for cups of coffee or a cold (nonalcoholic) drink, someone has to drive, then talk more about shtuffe before we head out to the lake near where I live and do some POTA while we wait for a fish or two ( they are not all huge catfish, darn it) join us for dinner. I have a cat who could model for the next edition of "MEH" cat.
Have both and i don’t see much difference. I have the ability to switch between them and the end fed is only up 23’. I use the SIG 9.
I think DX commander Vertical antenna are great for Transmitting, End fed horizontal antenna is great for low noise receiving. AG6JU
Do you know what the Tenntennas EFHW with so239 is rated for digital ? I'm about to attempt my first test with JS8call from an 857d. Don't want to mess anything up! Thanks
I'm not sure the actual rating but I run ~70 watts into mine all day long without any issues.
Dude.... you made me spend money..... Again. Nano VNA H4 on the way.
I'll disagree a bit with your POTA assessment. I'll sometimes hunt from a park and not upload to POTA. HOWEVER, I never hunt or call as P2P. No one but me knows I'm actually in a park. I never mention it unless a collect 10 contacts. Then I'll upload and switch to hunting as P2P. Generally this is because I'm short on time.
DX Commander at home. Take the EFHW on the road. Activated Delicate Arch at Arches NP with my Nelson 40 m 100W EFHW.
Hey Mike, K8MKL and myself love hunting in our local park K-1961 as it helps boost your P2P totals for those awards, if your into that. But yes for the love of all that's holy submit those logs, I have several I've been waiting on for over a year and I'll probably never see. 73 de W8MJL
I have par endfedz efhw80-10 for 3 year now, this antena is very good with icom ic7300 with internal tunner n works well 80m to 10m… with this antena I have 233 lotw dxcc Mix n 116 dxcc phone….
cool job 73 from Danmark
did you answer the question or did I miss it?
I have an EFHW. It's marginally better than a dummy load. 73 Al K3ZE
So, Mike. What do you really think of HAMRS? Should I download it! ? 🤣🤣🤣
Once again I'll say, POTA admins need to stop this "successful activation" stuff.
If someone doesn't get 10 contacts they aren't going to upload their logs because they don't want it to show on their stats that they have 100 out of 150 successful activations.
Calling 10 contacts "successful" makes anything less than 10 "unsuccessful" regardless of what they continue to say.
I 100% disagree. It's a goal. If you don't hit that number, you didn't succeed in activating the park. There are wins and there are losses in life. That's called, well, life. What, so everyone should get a participation trophy now? I don't think so.
@@hamradiotube You prove my point because if they don't hit the number, they wont submit the logs (penalizing the activator calling CQ POTA).
I agree with you that there are wins and losses. I personally don't go out into a park unless I'm prepared to stay until I make those 10 contacts.
But the rules of this game are setup where, if you are losing, you can just not submit your scorecard.
Ultimately, this rule only hurts the activators that take time to single out the "park to parks".
There needs to be a penalty for people making "park to park" contacts that don't submit their logs or create a different rule where "hunting from parks" doesn't count towards an activation. This would affect my activations because I primarily hunt from parks as Im not quite ready to call CQ POTA yet. But Im willing to accept that if it means activators will get credit for their work.
I’m just here for Satan. 🐈⬛
He knows and appreciates it.
Get 10-80 meter endfed from the company myantennas made very
Man that is the coolest product I want one. Thank you for your tube videos I subscribe. 73
I appreciated the honest comments. Some reviewers never have a negative review. I find it hard to believe every product is perfect. Thanks, enjoy the videos. W9OQI
Efhw antenna for me every time
Andy m0abg
Take the label off the trash can!
THANKS FOR all your videos very informative
de KN4CBS
Thanks for watching!